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The Fantastics - "I Wanna Be A Millionaire Hobo" b/w/ "There Goes My Love" 1959

 

 



The Fantastics - "I Wanna Be A Millionaire Hobo" b/w "There Goes My Love" RCA Victor 1959

Today we sample some divine doo-wop from the streets of Brooklyn, New York, by way of The Fantastics. The Fantastics were a short-lived group who released three or four 45s between 1959 and 1961. In 1962, the group lost a member and renamed themselves The Keynoters and released one more 45 that same year on Keynote Records before dissolving permanently. Most of the members of the group appear to have faded into obscurity afterwards, with the exception of their first tenor, Sam Strain, who would go on to perform with Little Anthony & The Imperials as well as The O'Jays.

This particular 45 is their first, and it's a good one. The A-side has that delightful humor-laced good time rock 'n' roll sound that makes groups like The Coasters and The Cadillacs so timelessly endearing. It has the right amount of that tongue-in-cheek, smart ass repartee that makes a song fun, expressed in good humor, without crossing over into punk snideness. The flip side is a standard doo-wop ballad, fairly typical of the genre. I don't present that as a pejorative, because it's a great cool down tune after the romp on the A-side.

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